Three members of a family are dead in a murder-suicide scene. The Highlands County Sheriff’s Office says a 54-year-old woman shot her 63-year-old husband, ten-year-old son and then herself. The incident was discovered Friday in a home at 5555 North Lake Huckleberry Drive when a neighbor realized that they hadn’t seen the residents in several days. Sheriff Paul Blackman encourages the public to know that there are free resources available when suffering from a mental health crisis and call 988 to speak to someone at the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
A 15-year-old Sebring High School freshman was arrested Friday on charges that he allegedly threatened two students with a knife in a bathroom on campus, according to reports from the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office. School officials were notified of the incident, and the suspect was arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated battery and possession of a weapon on a school campus. The Sheriff’s Office is still investigationg the incident.
The State will be seeking the death penalty for a Sebring woman charged with murder, aggravated child abuse, kidnapping, tampering with evidence and two more charges of child abuse. On November 15th, 2024, paramedics were called to Diane Natasha Mack’s residence at 4015 Bianca Street in Sebring. It’s there that first responders found a deceased 13-year-old girl in shocking conditions and with obvious signs of abuse. The child was later identified as Mack’s adopted daughter. During the investigation it was discovered that the child was often bound to the home’s garage door and was monitored by surveillance cameras in the home. Mack was indicted December 5th, 2024 and is being held without bond at Highlands County Jail.
Four Polk County law enforcement officials are off the job following the results of an internal investigation. The Lakeland Police Department says four of its officers have resigned in lieu of their terminations after they acted outside the agency’s policies. Authorities say the officers intentionally turned off their body-worn cameras during a car chase last March. The men were responding to a report of possible shots fired in the city’s northside. Investigators say the driver, who was pursued and arrested, had no connection to the initial call, but was charged with resisting arrest and possession of marijuana. Each of the officers involved had worked with the agency for at least seven years.
There are final answers surrounding a 40-year-old Central Florida cold case. The Lake County Sheriff’s Office has identified a teenager who was found off a dirt road in Altoona in 1984 as Rebecca Sue Hill. The victim was reported missing out of Arkansas about three years prior to the discovery of her body. Detectives used genealogy to help find new leads in Hill’s case. Authorities believe Hill was about 16 or 17 years old at the time she was found. Investigators are still trying to figure out the circumstances behind her disappearance and death.
About a dozen people are in custody after an apparent immigration raid in Central Florida. Sanford Police say federal agents went to an apartment complex on Wednesday and detained up to 12 people. Video shows officers wearing vests that indicated they work with Homeland Security or ICE. Residents tell Fox 35 there are a lot of undocumented immigrants in the complex, and everybody is scared.
A 67-year-old Manatee County woman has been declared dead one year after she was reported missing. Catherine Stirm was reported missing and endangered on January 31st, 2024, after she failed to show up for work. Detectives believe Catherine’s brother Scott had knowledge of her death and that her body was likely dismembered and disposed of at an unknown location. Scott Stirm was found dead at a Brooksville hotel on February 1st of last year and police say that suicide was the cause of death. Catherine Stirm was declared deceased in Manatee County Probate Court back in November.
Florida colleges and universities are going to reduce their general education courses. The State Board of Governors approved a new list of courses recently at a meeting at the University of North Florida. Officials believe it is not based on theories of systemic racism, sexism, and privilege. A group of professors held a news conference right before the vote, pushing back against the reduced course catalog because they feel it limits what they can teach. To clarify, Florida colleges and universities are still allowed to offer the classes on the list but they can’t be part of general education requirements.